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‘Misuse of CBI’ may unite Opposition

The coming Winter Session of Parliament may not be smooth for the government because the use of the CBI and the income-tax agency against Opposition leaders could unite them inside Parliament which would affect the government business during the session expected to begin in the third week of November.

The anti-BJP parties which have checked the controversial land ordinance and the GST bills after successfully stalling the entire Monsoon Session of Parliament on the Lalitgate and Vyapam scam, would become aggressive in the Rajya Sabha where the BJP-led NDA is in a minority and thus depending on the Trinamul Congress, the NCP, the BSP besides the AIADMK and the BJD which are not part of the NDA.

While the Congress, Left and the JD(U) cannot be friendly with the government irrespective of the outcome of the Bihar Assembly polls, the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamul Congress too cannot afford to be soft with the BJP or the Modi government due to the West Bengal Assembly polls next year.

The threat of the CBI and the income-tax department may make the SP, the BSP passive but this will not help in the passage of Constitution amendment bill like the GST.

The government’s strategy is to keep the Opposition in good humour as far as passage of important bills is concerned but it appears to isolate the main Opposition Congress in the two Houses of Parliament. However, it cannot manage a bloc of 90 members in the Rajya Sabha even by using the CBI and the I-T.

This is because the Congress (68), the JD-U (12) and the Left (10) will have no option but to be aggressive in the Upper House. But the Samajwadi Party (15), the BSP (10), the Trinamul Congress (12) can extend an issue base support to the government depending on the situation.

But the government cannot rely on them due to the impending Assembly polls in West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.